Freddie Gibbs released on bail after sexual assault charges in Austria

UPDATE: Freddie Gibbs has been released on bail following his arrest in Austria Wednesday, Reuters reports. He was freed on bail of 50,000 euros, a $56,560 U.S. equivalent, and had to surrender his passport.

EARLIER: Freddie Gibbs has been charged with sexual assault in Austria, the Associated Press reports.

The charges stem from the alleged rape of two women by the Indiana rapper and his bodyguard while on tour last year. In June, Gibbs was arrested in France. He was granted bail several weeks later and then extradited to Austria, where he remains in custody.

The indictment states that the two men exploited the dazed state of two women whose drinks were possibly drugged to sexually abuse them after a nightclub appearance by Gibbs. Gibbs, whose real name is Fredrick Tipton, denies the accusations.

“While Freddie Gibbs was charged with an offense today, it remains only an allegation, and it does not in any way change the actual facts that Freddie Gibbs is 100% innocent,” Gibbs’ lawyer, Theodore Simon, told Pitchfork in a statement. Read his full address below.

“While Freddie Gibbs was charged with an offense today, it remains only an allegation, and it does not in any way change the actual facts that Freddie Gibbs is 100% innocent.

He continues to pursue every available means to demonstrate that he is absolutely innocent and that he has been both belatedly and wrongly accused. As the investigation and process continues, Mr. Gibbs remains hopeful that a thorough, searching and complete investigation will reveal the actual facts, including the absence of any scientific, physical, or credible evidence implicating him, thereby paving the way for his exoneration and return to his family and one-year old child. In accordance with Austrian procedure Mr. Gibbs has not as yet had the opportunity to provide the authorities and the Court with the substantial and compelling exonerating evidence that he has compiled.

Consistent with the available legal practices and procedures in Austria, Mr. Gibbs will ask the Court to release him on bail, under reasonable terms and conditions, as was done in France.

Through counsel Mr. Freddie Gibbs has consistently remained fully cooperative with law enforcement offices and judicial systems in both France and Austria and will continue to do so.”